Hunter's in Brooklyn, New York

We were recently invited to Hunter's, a restaurant located on the thriving Smith street in Brooklyn. It is a young restaurant considering that it opened in November 2012. Its name and different drawings on the menu and their website screams hunting, and the association of hunting and restaurant made me think, besides meat and animals like boar or deer, of natural / organic products. Well, Hunter is the name of the dog of the Chef, Angelo Schifilliti, who co-owns the place. I can tell you that when talking about his dog, we could see a light in his eyes: he loves him so much that he gave his name to the restaurant!!!

The place has a nice decor, with exposed bricks, tin ceiling, wooden floors and wooden furniture. We went for dinner and the light was dimmed and warm, giving an intimate feel to the place. The restaurant was unusually packed for a Tuesday and they were slightly understaffed; however, it did not affect the service that was extremely courteous and efficient, and not only to our table. I mentioned to Jodi at some point during dinner, that it reminded me a little bit the restaurants at La Butte Aux Cailles, a popular area in Paris, full of bars and unpretentious restaurants similar to this one. 

When I learnt that they were participating in the Shaken and Stirred best of Brooklyn cocktail contest that day, I inquired about the cocktail list. It is made of two categories: signature and seasonal. I decided to go for the Handsome Hound (guess to whom it refers to?) that is one of their signature cocktails. 

It was made of Breuckelen corn & rye whiskey (the bottle is used for tap water!), orange & barrel bitters, sweet vermouth and brandied cherries. I can tell you that this cocktail delivers and is perfect if you like whiskey!

Then, we had a tough time deciding what to order. The seasonal menu is small, but here were so many things I wanted to try. So we asked our waiter what their popular dishes are and followed some of his suggestions. I ordered the chicken liver & bacon mousse, one of heir signature dishes. 

It was served with a deliciously sweet shallot marmalade, pickles (carrots, onions and haricots verts - string beans) and some bread. They present it in a rustic way, on a piece of wood, stacking the different components next to each other. The mousse was fantastic: smooth and a bit smokey (not too much), thanks to the bacon. I ate it with and without the shallot marmalade that added a nice sweetness to the dish, counteracting the sour taste of the pickles. 

Jodi ordered their butternut squash agnolotti (home made!):

Ippudo West Side in NYC, New York

Who doesn't know Ippudo, considered the best ramen place in NYC? Their location in the East Village was our first immersion to the ramen craze that has been shaking the City in the past couple of years. But one Ippudo was not enough! So, they opened a new one Midtown, on 51st between 8th and 9th, bringing some concurrence to Totto Ramen. We decided to go on a Saturday, at the opening, fearing that the place would be packed. It was not the case, but rapidly, a crowd craving for noodles stormed the restaurant. 

The layout is nice: first is the bar, that serves sake as well as draft Japanese beer (look at the handles that look like swords!). 

Then, the main room, in a U shape, that overlooks the kitchen. 

Then the dining room. 

Similar to the flagship restaurant, when you arrive, they will shout in Japanese the number of people in the party and ask everybody to welcome them, followed by cheers. When a dish comes out of the kitchen, they will also shout the name before bringing it to the table. All of this adding a bit of folklore to the restaurant. 

In term of food, Ippudo serves other things than ramen, but it was what we wanted to get. But before, we wanted to try their pork buns:

I discovered them at Momofuku Noodle Bar and I admit that I never miss an occasion to order them! These were really good! The pork was perfectly cooked, moist with the right balance between fat and meat. The bun themselves were soft and a bit sticky, perfect! A nice addition was the lettuce that have some crunch to the dish. Delicious!

Blogger event at Pie Face in Chelsea, New York

Last week, I was invited to a blogger event at Pie Face in Chelsea, the 6th location of this Australian bakery, location that opened couple of weeks ago. Last year, I blogged about Pie Face, after discovering these delicious little pies at their first location on 52nd and Broadway (check out the post here). 

Similar to the other locations, the place is small and you cannot miss the delicious smell when entering, smell coming from the open kitchen where they bake the goods!

The pies are the same in each location and, after they are cooked in the oven, they will be placed in the display that will keep them warm.

For this event, they organized the back of the restaurant as a VIP section.

There, we were treated with savory, but also sweet food, paired with some prosecco.

The savory pies were:

Tandoori vegetable pies:

And minced beef pies:

An Italian Culinary Experience with Casa Vinicola Zonin and Osteria Del Circo!

I was recently invited by Casa Vinicola Zonin for an Italian Culinary Experience. This is my second event of that sort and I admit that I love it, because it is not only about the wine, but also about the marriage of wine and food. This time, the wine was paired with the food from Osteria Del Circo, one of the many restaurants from the Maccioni family. If you are a foodie, this name cannot be totally unknown! They own few restaurants, the iconic one being Le Cirque! And we got the privilege to meet with one of the Maccioni brothers: Marco. We even spoke with him after the event, for couple of minutes and he was very nice! During the evening, organized at The International Culinary Center, he entertained us with great stories from his family, and making me realizing how big Le Cirque is, considering how many renown Chefs worked there, from Francois Payard, Jacques Torres, Daniel Boulud or Geoffrey Zakarian. The way Marco told these stories, you could feel that he was proud and it was not pretentious at all, making us forget that we were at a marketing event, and giving us the impression that we were invited at some friends' gathering and Marco was one of the guests. 

Interesting enough, he presented Osteria Del Circo as the anti-Le Cirque, giving as an example the fact that you have to wear a tie at Le Cirque and not at Osteria Del Circo. We saw few years ago a documentary called A Table in Heaven, where the brothers tried to persuade their father not to impose such a formal attire. We mentioned it to Marco whose reaction was "Oh God!"...  

Also present was the Casa Vinicola Zonin crew, Jelena, Paolo and Francesco, as well as Chef Alfio Longo who is the executive chef of the kitchen at Osteria Del Circo.

A student from the ICC, Chef Alfio Longo, Marco Maccioni, Francesco Rabellino and Jelena  Meisel
(Paolo, where were you???)

Chef Longo has an interesting story: born in Germany to an Italian family, he was raised in a small town close to Florence called Pistoia. After developing a culinary passion and studying at the F. Martini Culinary & Hotel Management & Tourism Institute in Montecatini where he graduated in 1998, he worked in famous restaurants in Italy. In 2003, as a sous Chef at Uno Piu Restorante in Montecatini, he impressed Sirio Maccioni and his family so much, who were spending the summer there as it was their hometown, that they proposed him a job! After many tribulations and travels around the world, he was appointed Executive Chef at Osteria Del Circo in New York City.

So, with such a cast, we were ready for this long awaited Italian Culinary Experience! 

We started off with canapés, one bite food. The first one was tomatoes and mozzarella:

Then, my favorite: prosciutto wrapped figs!

This was simple, but heavenly good, with the saltiness of the prosciutto and the sweetness of the fig complementing each other.

After, smoked salmon canapés:

This was a fantastic way of preparing our palates for what would be an incredible experience! These canapés were served with Zonin Prosecco, which was also the welcome drink.

East Japanese Restaurant in NYC, New York

I recently had dinner with my coworkers at East Japanese restaurant, a...Japanese (duh!) restaurant located Midtown Manhattan. I was excited to go there try some unusual dishes, far from the regular sushi and sashimi. The place has nothing very particular, besides the karaoke upstairs (!) and its layout that is long...After passing few tables, there is a counter were you can sit to admire the dexterity of the Chefs.

Next to it is the kitchen, and then few tables in the back. 

After ordering some sake (cold), and a cup of green tea, we placed our order. 

We first decided to share some appetizers. We started off with the spicy tuna carpaccio.

It was served with salmon roe, avocado (ripe) and spicy mayo (quite spicy in fact). This was a great appetizer, both presentation wise with all the colors, and taste wise. I think that raw tuna and a ripe avocado pair perfectly, the avocado adding some smoothness and enhancing the taste of the tuna, the samon roe adding some texture.

The second appetizer was broil squid (yaki ika).

The presentation was appetizing for sure!

Korean BBQ at Kunjip in NYC, New York

As we were craving Korean BBQ, we roamed around Korea Town and picked the first restaurant we found that followed the following criteria: we've never been there, it has an A grade and it proposes BBQ. We found this place called Kunjip. It was of medium size and, as it was before noon on a Saturday, not packed. I should say not yet, as, by the time we left, it was crowded, with people waiting for a table. 

The sat us on a table of 4 and put a divider in the middle to separate us from the person who was already sitting there. 

It was tiny and I told the waitress that we were there for a BBQ, but she said it was ok...

We decided to order some green tea with our meal, not expecting to pay for it ($2.50 pp). I know, people always complain about paying for tea in an Asian restaurant, but find it normal anywhere else...Anyway, it was an interesting tea: brown rice and green tea. You could definitely get the slight taste of brown rice that was coming through. 

After few minutes, they brought us the banchan, these side dishes that you eat with your meal. 

There was:

Kimchi, that is my all time favorite. It was a tiny bit spicy. 

Fish cakes:

Dinner at Glow Thai restaurant and lounge in Brooklyn, New York

Last Saturday, we were invited for dinner at Glow a Thai restaurant and lounge located in Bay Ridge. There, our host and owner, Anthony Loupos and his wife Chef Suwanna Amatmontri, who is from Thailand, proposed a tasting that went beyond regular Thai food. They pride on proposing street food and creative dishes, made with ingredients chosen and bought on a daily basis in local markets.

I was excited for sure because I love Thai cuisine and we were ready for a culinary experience! 

So, as I mentioned, this is a restaurant and lounge. When you arrive, you face the pink lighted bar with its white stools, that definitely gives a modern and lounge-y feel to the place.

Then, the main dining room, with its large painting of Buddha.

And the exposed bricks, that give a warm feel to the place. In the back, there is a fish tank with lotus flowers on top, symbol of fortune in Buddhism.

The last element of the decor that I liked was the rotating double fans on the ceiling, that added to the modern, but simple feel of the place.

As it is a lounge, it has a wide variety of cocktails, some of them being unique, like the Drunken Gummy Bear that I tried!

Don't be mistaken: gummy bear does not only apply to the two pieces of candy used for decoration: there are gummy bears in the drink! The way they make it is using liquid nitrogen!

Recipe: Italian Egg Benedict

I love eggs benedict and, as I had to create a dish with pasta, I came up with the idea of Italian egg Benedict, where the English muffin would be replaced by pasta, but keeping the presence of bread with breadcrumbs that added a bit of crunch!

My pasta of choice were bucatini from Delverde. I like bucatini, which is thicker than spaghetti.

It is a fairly easy dish to make and it only requires couple of steps!

Step 1- cook the pasta:

Once the water is brought to a boil, add salt (no oil: just stir from time to time) and then the pasta and cooked to the preferred consistency; the instructions say 7 minutes, but, I prefer 10 minutes.

Brunch at DBGB in NYC, New York

Being a fan of Daniel Boulud, we decided to go for brunch at DBGB, a bistro located on Bowery. Casual, but a bit trendy! The decor is spectacular, with two different rooms separated by shelves, one of them full of pans and pots "donated" by famous Chefs (Paul Bocuse, who is a legend in France or Gordon Ramsay being some of them). 

Both dining rooms are different and carry a different feel: the first one, after the entrance is very casual, modern, bright, with wall covered with mirrors where you can read famous people's quotes. 

In the back is the bar, with a wall covered in bottles.

Then, there is the second dining room, that is more formal, with shelves all over, mainly occupied by wine bottles. 

In the back, is the huge open kitchen. The menu at DBGB features both French and American traditional dishes. For instance, on the French side, you can order the charcuterie plate made of pâté, jambon (ham) or head cheese; they serve also blood sausage or croque Monsieur. On the American side, they have hotdogs as well as burgers. For the latter, they propose a French version, the Frenchie, that I tried! The French touch is: confit pork belly, tomato-onion compote and morbier cheese! 

The beef patty, that was served on a peppered brioche bun, was perfectly cooked medium and very juicy, to the point that i did not need to add any ketchup or mayo. You could taste the layered components one after the other, delightfully complementing each other.